2014 German Grand Prix
|poletime = 1:16.540 |fastestlap = 1:19.908 |fastestlapdriver = Lewis Hamilton |fastestlapnation = GBR |fastestlapteam = |fastestlapnumber = 53 |winner = Nico Rosberg |winnernation = GER |winnerteam = |second = Valtteri Bottas |secondteam = |secondnation = FIN |third = Lewis Hamilton |thirdteam = |thirdnation = GBR }} The 2014 German Grand Prix (officially the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2014) was the tenth race of the season. It was held between July 18 and July 20, 2014. Nico Rosberg took pole position and won the race. Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th after both a crash in qualifying and a grid penalty, finished third; Valtteri Bottas separated the two drivers. __TOC__ Background In the German Grand Prix, all drivers ran cars without the FRIC system. FRIC, the front-to-rear interconnected suspension, is essentially an electronic self-levelling suspension system that gives the car better cornering abilities. This system has been used in Formula One for the past ten years. All teams abandoned the FRIC system because of the threat of being protested against if they ran the system. With his home country's victory in the FIFA World Cup, Nico Rosberg has designed a special German World Cup helmet for his home Grand Prix. His original design contained an image of the World Cup trophy on the top of the helmet, however FIFA banned this design as it infringed upon the official World Cup brand. Rosberg has created an alternate design that does not contain the World Cup trophy on it. Going into the race, the duo are locked in a tight battle for lead in the World Drivers' Championship. This being the home Grand Prix for the team, both drivers will be looking to finish in a high result. Rosberg leads the World Drivers' Championship by just four points to Lewis Hamilton, but after a victory in his home Grand Prix Hamilton is thought to have the momentum. In addition to Rosberg, this event is also Nico Hülkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel's home Grand Prix. This event was held at the Hockenheimring due to the track alternating years with the Nürburgring. The last time that this race was held at the Hockenheimring was in 2012 and we saw Fernando Alonso win his 30th Formula One victory. Entry list Practice Overview FP1 Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton of proved yet again that they are two of the best drivers of the season by posting the top two fastest times in the session. The World Drivers' Championship leader Rosberg led Hamilton, but only by 0.065 seconds. Sebastian Vettel of set the fastest time early on after entering the track with the first group of drivers, however this was a position that he was unable to maintain. He had dropped to a respectable sixth position by the end of the session. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished in a fourth position, but still had a sizable gap to Fernando Alonso. test driver Giedo van der Garde stood in for Esteban Gutiérrez and managed to place the car into 16th position after driving a 23 laps. Susie Wolff made another appearance for , driving Valtteri Bottas' car. This experience proved to be better after suffering mechanical issues in first free practice session of the 2014 British Grand Prix. Early in the session it looked as though Wolff would not get the chance to participate in the session because of more mechanical issues, but the team was able to fix the issue and get her out onto the track for her 22 laps of practice. Marcus Ericsson made the early start to the session and managed to complete the most laps of the session with a successful 35 laps. However, this would not help his session as he would still finish 21st. Max Chilton finished in the last position after having to return to the garage on his installation lap when he car began to emit smoke. Chilton did manage to complete 22 laps after the issues was repaired, but was off of the pace. FP2 Much like the first practice session, both Mercedes drivers finished with very close lap times. The big difference this session was that Hamilton was on top, with a gap of 0.024 seconds over Rosberg. Rosberg set the pace early on, running the soft tyres. It would remain this way until Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo pitted to change to the super soft tyres. This allowed Ricciardo to set the fastest lap, but Rosberg quickly resumed his spot on top. A few laps later, Hamilton would take the lead by a very small gap. Hamilton would remain on top for the remainder of the session. Ericsson again suffered mechanical issues with his early in the session and was forced to stop, but rejoined the session after the car was repaired. Kamui Kobayashi in the other also had some issues when he car caught fire after twelve laps and he was forced to retire from the session. Bottas and Gutiérrez took there seats back from the test drivers. Gutiérrez was not able to finish better than his test driver did in the first session, but Bottas was successful in beating Wolff's impressive performance by a staggering five positions. FP3 Practice Results Qualifying Q1 Q2 Q3 Qualifying Results Notes: * *Esteban Gutiérrez was penalized three grid positions for causing a collision in the previous round * † Lewis Hamilton was penalized five grid positions for a gearbox change Grid Notes: * * Esteban Gutiérrez was penalised three grid positions for causing a collision with Pastor Maldonado at the . * † Lewis Hamilton was given a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change. * ‡ Marcus Ericsson started from the pitlane. Race Results Milestones * A car with number six started an 882nd race, standing alone as the most-used car number in F1 history (car number 2, unused in 2014, has been used in 881 races). * Nico Rosberg scored his 20th podium, lead his 500th lap and passed 750 points. * ' 300th podium. * 300th podium for a engine. * Adrian Sutil drove his 119th race without scoring a podium finish, overtaking Pierluigi Martini's record of 118. Standings after race Notes Category:2014 Grands Prix Category:German Grand Prix Category:Formula One races in Germany